Commission launches two new and one review anti-dumping investigation on steel and iron products

The European Commission is launching today and tomorrow three investigations on steel and iron products originating in China and India. Two of the investigations relate to potential new anti-dumping duties to be imposed on one product of Chinese origin (corrosion resistant steel) and another product (certain cast iron articles) originating in China and India. The third investigation concerns an expiry review of existing anti-dumping measures on imports from China of certain seamless pipes and tubes of stainless steel. For the two new investigations, the Commission now has up to nine months to establish whether conditions to impose provisional duties are met, and a further six months to decide whether to impose definitive measures. On the third investigation, the expiry review will determine whether it is justified to continue for another five years the anti-dumping duties already in place since 2011, or whether they should be discontinued. Corrosion resistant steels are mainly used in the construction sector and in domestic appliances. Stainless seamless pipes and tubes are mainly used in the chemical and petrochemical industries, fertiliser production, power generation, civil engineering and construction, food processing, pharmacology and medical applications, biotechnology, water treatment and waste incineration. Anti-dumping investigations follow a strict procedure in line with EU and World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. The EU currently has an unprecedented number of trade defence measures in place targeting unfair exports of steel products from third countries, with a total of 40 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures, 18 of which on products originating from China. 20 more investigations concerning steel products are still ongoing, including three cases for which duties are being provisionally applied.